LETTERS; Kennedy in Vienna

Published: August 10, 2008

To the Editor:

I was both dismayed and surprised to see in your July 6 issue a letter containing that old, long since discredited, revisionist claim regarding John F. Kennedy's ''admittedly disastrous performance at the 1961 Vienna summit with Khrushchev that encouraged the Soviet leader to believe that he could successfully pull off the missile installation'' in Cuba in 1962. After closely reading the transcript of that summit and discussing it not only directly with J.F.K. but directly with Khrushchev's son, it is clear to me that his performance was no more disastrous than Khrushchev's aborted installation of missiles in Cuba was successful.

Ted Sorensen
New York

The writer is a former special counsel and adviser to John F. Kennedy and the author of ''Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History.''